In modern telecommunications and electronics, semiconductor-based and photonic-based circuits are used to achieve highly integrated miniature-size components with high bandwidth and high-speed processing capacity. However, semiconductor CMOS-based electronics face fundamental energy and scaling limitations. According to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) it is aimed at 22 nm structures forming integrated circuit chips in the year 2015. Presently, photonic components, for example, based on silicon photonic waveguides at present use 65 nm technologies. Photonic concepts, however, are fundamentally limited by the wavelength being used, e.g. currently 1550 nm for Si photonics. Smaller dimensions usually lead to frustrated modes with a considerable reduction in bandwidth. To benefit from large bandwidth and high speed, a miniaturization of photonics concepts below the diffraction limit given by the employed wave lengths is therefore highly desirable.
Conventionally, information carried by photons needs to be converted into electric signals for further processing, routing or manipulation. This is because mass and charge-less photons do not interact (strongly). The conversion from optical into electronic signals requires large amounts of energy. This additional step decreases the possible bandwidth, processing and communication speed. Conventionally, miniaturized solid-state lasers, photonic waveguides and photo detectors are used. It would be desirable to provide information or signal processing means that potentially dispense with such solid-state lasers and photo detectors. It would also be desirable to realize sub-wavelength devices for light manipulation and logic operations such as switching or routing.